Drinks and Recipes

Medium vs. Dark Roasted Coffee Beans

A question we sometimes get from customers is whether they would prefer a medium or a dark roast from our selection. The answer depends a lot on what the customer is used to drinking (their expectations), what qualities they’re looking for (bold dark roast vs. nutty medium roast) and even what else they’re eaten that day.

We recommend a Dark Roast if:

The difference between a medium and espresso roast (our darkest) can be less than 10% of the caffeine being roasted out, which is negligible in the grand scheme of things, but some swear by it. The amount of caffeine varies more between coffee origins, but even that shouldn’t be a deciding factor.

Our recommendation of course, is to find a flavour you like and not worry so much about the differences in caffeine content. If you find one cup of your favourite coffee doesn’t quite do it, have another cup! It’s a win/win. Read the reviews we have other customers leave on our site to find recommendations and qualities that you might enjoy.

We don’t do light roasts

Seems like an odd decision to limit our availability, but a light roast just wasn’t necessary. After roasting for over 40 years, we’ve tuned out medium roast to retain all the natural flavour and characteristics from each origin while still providing a good strong coffee taste. Light roasts have become popular in some coffee chains recently (and were almost necessary) because most coffee chains over-roast their coffee. What they call a “dark roast” is typically closer to our espresso, and their “medium roast” is typically closer to our dark roast, which means their “light roast” is closer to our medium. Coffee chains intentionally over-roast beans because it removes flavours that might otherwise be overly pronounced, which can cause problems when they run into issues buying enough beans to fulfill their sales. By creating a very “monotonous” coffee without any specific qualities and over-roasting the beans, they’re able to provide their customers with consistency through the years.

BuyCoffeeCanada prides itself on properly roasting coffee beans from specific origins, giving you a better cup of quality coffee. We recommend ordering your coffee as a “Medium Roast” if you’re looking for the equivalent of a light roast elsewhere.

Beans we don’t recommend ordering in a Dark Roast

Your personal taste preferences are always the #1 factor in deciding which coffee you’ll enjoy, but there are a couple we would recommend against ordering as a dark roast. Not surprising, these are the expensive beans, valued because of the unique flavours and the quality of the beans, some of which are lost when moving to a dark roast.